Friday evening 15th & Saturday 16th May, saw Wests up at Perth Bayswater for Round 5 of the Season. 2nd Grade: 2nds took on Perth on Field 1 under lights on Friday evening as Rugby W.A. wanted the program to finish early on Saturday so people could get to the Force v Highlanders game. Wests went out to a 5-0 lead with a try to Anthony Usmar and by mid second half lead 11-3 due to Craig Barrett kicking 2 penalties. Perth came back and kicked 2 penalties and the game stood at 11-9 to Wests with about 8 minutes left. Wests held on and recorded a good win. 1st Grade: 1sts followed on from 2nds kicking off at 8-05pm taking on a solid Perth side. Lorenzo DeVilliers had been promoted from Under 18’s and played a full game at open side flanker, whilst Kane McLeod was at blindside after moving up from 2nds. Wests were competitive again throughout the match, however missed tackles and a few wrong options saw them go down 12-48. Try scorers for Wests were Kane McLeod and Anthony Tait, whilst Mike Marshall kicked a conversion. Once again Wests players never gave up and with 5 of the backline 21 years of age or under, it bodes well for the future. Player of the day was Fullback, Daniel Corsbie. The Club Head & 1st Grade Coach Wayne Gibson’s mission to give young players in the Club and any from any other Club who feel they can play 1st Grade and are not getting a fair go at their Club due to imports, is strongly backed by Committee and Wests are looking at a three year program, as we know this development will not happen overnight. Colts Under 18s: 18’s were to start off the program on Saturday however they had to default as we only had 11 fit players at kick-off with 2 more arriving late, so we had a scratch match where Perth lent us 4 of their players, however the game finished 5 minutes early due to one of the Perth players sustaining a neck injury, so we hope he’s ok. Under 20's: Played next on Field 1 and took on a Perth side that were close to them on the ladder. Wests were struggling for numbers due to players arriving late, however they took the field with a full compliment and whilst the game was tight for the first 20 or so minutes they went on to win 29-12. Try scorers for Wests were Ricky Unasa (3), Coree Mahu and Tane Edwards, whilst Jayden DeVorms kicked 2 conversions. 3rd Grade: Followed 20s on Field 1 and Perth scored early to lead 5-0 and that was the score until midway 2nd half when Dirk Funnekotter finished off a great backline move and went round to score under the posts for Dan Broughton to convert making it 7-5. It continued that way until 5 minutes from the end when Wests were penalized for pulling down the maul through the speed-hump ruling. Perth kicked the penalty to lead 8-7 with about 4 minutes left. Perth returned the kickoff and Paul Connelly took it about 10 metres out from his own 22 and carved through the Perth defence to link up with Hayden Head who got tackled 10 metres from the line but Paul Connelly had doubled around to take the pass and scored making it 12-8 with the kick to come. The conversion was unsuccessful and there was just time for the kick-off which Dave Wessells fielded and banged into touch and 3rds came away with a plucky win. 4th Grade: Played on Field 2 and took on a Perth side that was above them on the ladder and went down 7-24. Try scorer for Wests was Brad Downey and Gary Jowett kicked the conversion. 4ths are still in 3rd spot on the ladder, so are going well. Kevin Hays (President)